Two Weeks with Love (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Sep 11, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Roy RowlandRelease Date(s)
1950 (July 29, 2025)Studio(s)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: B+
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A-
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Among the musical treasures from MGM, Two Weeks with Love has never achieved the status of such classics as Singin’ in the Rain or The Band Wagon. It does, however, offer lots of charm with its late nineteenth-century setting, modestly prosperous family, comical conflicts, and at least one stand-out musical number.
The plot is simple. It’s summer and the Robinson family is taking their annual two-week vacation at a hotel in the Catskills. Daughter Patti (Jane Powell) has just turned 17 and chafes at not being treated as an adult, particularly now that she’s trying to impress exotic older man Demi (Ricardo Montalbán). Mrs. Robinson (Ann Harding) believes girls should not be allowed to date until they’re at least 18, and continues to treat Patti as a child. Mr. Robinson (Louis Calhern) supports his wife but senses that Patti is unhappy. Their fifteen-year-old daughter Melba (Debbie Reynolds) makes fun of romance but still wants hotel employee Billy (Carlton Carpenter) to notice her, and all their two little boys want is to run around and have fun.
Powell has plenty of opportunities to exercise her high soprano in between Patti’s feeling sorry for herself, being duped by her more experienced friend, stage actress Valerie (Phyllis Kirk), and getting herself into silly scrapes. Reynolds and Carpenter sparkle, enlivening the trite script with comic energy and good old-fashioned show biz pizzazz.
Montalbán, handsome and suave whether in an orange-striped blazer at dinner or a full-dress uniform in a dream sequence, shows off his athletic skill in a choreographed sword fight and partners Powell in a couple of dance numbers. His Demi adds some sex appeal and his smile can light up a room.
Debbie Reynolds would go on to make many musicals for MGM and eventually branch out into straight comedy and even dramatic roles. Her star power is clearly on display here although she’s only third billed. Even when she’s in the background, she steals the scene with a wisecrack, witty observation, or withering look. Her screen chemistry with Carpenter is one of the joys of the picture.
Carpenter towers over everyone in the cast and reminded me of Tommy Tune, who would take Broadway by storm decades later. Tall, gangly with a smile that would melt a glacier, Carpenter is a charming comedian/singer/dancer. The year 1950 was big for him in musicals. He would also appear in Summer Stock and Three Little Words.
The supporting cast includes character actor Clinton Sundberg as the harried resort owner, Mr. Finlay, and Tommy Rettig as Ricky, the Robinson’s youngest child. Some viewers may remember Rettig as Jeff Miller in the original Lassie TV show.
Two Weeks with Love seems in many ways to be a Meet Me in St. Louis wannabe with its period setting, innocent family problems, and tuneful score. The screenplay by John Larkin and Dorothy Kingsley is entertaining, though the Patti character’s brooding becomes tedious after a while. Calhern and Harding play parents who try to adjust themselves to caring for a daughter who’s no longer a child but not yet an adult. Director Roy Rowland moves the film along briskly, spacing the musical numbers so that the simple plot never becomes tiresome.
The film is filled with minor crises that get resolved by the time the end credits roll, in keeping with the musical comedy template. The soundtrack contains songs from the period, including A Heart That’s Free and The Oceana Roll, performed by Powell; By the Light of the Silvery Moon, performed by the cast; My Hero, a duet by Powell and Montalbán; and Row, Row, Row, sung and danced by Reynolds and Carpenter in a talent show sequence.
Arguably the best number in the film is Aba Daba Honeymoon, a novelty tune about a simian romance sung by Reynolds and Carpenter first in a slow version, then in a speeded-up rendition, and followed by a patter dance. This scene is a highlight of the film. In fact, the song became a hit single for Debbie Reynolds. The lyrics are silly, and that’s what makes the song so much fun. The actors look like they’re having a great time performing it, and the melody is infectious. The number was included in the original That’s Entertainment.
Two Weeks with Love is appealing because of its fine cast and amusing mishaps during a vacation that isn’t as restful as all had hoped. To those who’ve never heard of the film, it will come as a pleasant surprise. Even a second-tier MGM musical is nothing to write off. The film transports the viewer to a rosy world of horses and carriages where people were kindly, difficulties were lovingly resolved, and life was filled with optimism. With so many harsh realities in today’s world, a film like Two Weeks with Love is a soothing retreat.
Two Weeks with Love was shot by director of photography Alfred Gilkes on 35mm film with spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The Technicolor palette on the Blu-ray is bright, with bold primary and soft pastels dominant. Clarity is excellent, and there are no visual imperfections to impair enjoyment. Details, such as patterns in trees and shrubbery, Mr. Robinson’s bandleader uniform, girls’ dresses, elaborate women’s hats, and the pink corset in Patti’s dream, are well-delineated. In a sequence in which fireworks are accidentally set off, they’re animated and combined with actors’ movements to suggest that the pyrotechnics are real. The musical numbers are staged by Busby Berkeley but don’t reflect the ingenuity of his 1930s musicals, offering less extravagance and more focus on individuals than on huge choruses.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are available. Dialogue is clear and distinct. The musical numbers have the big MGM sound and the score allows Powell to show off her broad operatic range. Brief excerpts from the Light Cavalry Overture and Jolly Robbers Overture are included and Patti and Demi dance the tango to A Media Luz. Exploding fireworks break the nighttime silence of the hotel when the big stash stored for July 4th accidentally catches fire a day early to chaotic comic effect.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive Collection include the following:
- Reel Memories With Jane Powell (43:30)
- Crashing the Movies (7:52)
- Screen Actors (8:34)
- Garden Gopher (6:12)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:08)
Reel Memories With Jane Powell – Shown originally on Turner Classic Movies, this interview with Jane Powell is conducted by Robert Osborne. Powell discusses her early years, entry into show business, her time at MGM, the various stars she worked with, and relates anecdotes about her various films. Born Suzanne Burce, Powell took her stage name from the character she played in her first movie, Song of the Open Road. She discusses attending school at the studio where child actors of various ages were taught in the same one-room “schoolhouse.” Among her classmates were Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowell. Small and young-looking, she resented playing only teen roles when she got older and longed for more adult material. She speaks affectionately of the studio system because careers were often shaped and blossomed under their guidance.
Crashing the Movies – In this 1950 Pete Smith Specialty, unusual people and events are captured on film, including a fat lady diving competition, a female acrobat hanging from her teeth, a water skier picked up by a low-flying plane, a motorcycle driven through a large pane of glass, an automobile demolition derby, a man being shot out of a cannon, and a man being shot at close range by a cannon ball.
Screen Actors – This 1950 short tries to show that in some ways, actors in movies are just regular folks, with interests and businesses apart from acting. Performers are shown, mostly in brief excerpts from unidentified films, as the narrator tells of their non-show business pursuits. Reginald Denny, Esther Williams, Gail Patrick and Dan Duryea are among the celebrities featured.
Garden Gopher – In this 1950 Technicolor MGM cartoon directed by Tex Avery, a stubborn gopher gives Spike a tough time when he tries to bury a bone.
Among the second-tier musicals relegated to the background of film history, many boast at least one great number. In Small Town Girl, for example, Ann Miller sings and dances to I’ve Gotta Hear That Beat as instruments played by disembodied hands emerge from the floor. Give a Girl Break features the Backward Dance, in which camera trickery has Debbie Reynolds and Bob Fosse defy gravity with their dance steps and make balloons magically appear from thin air. Lovely to Look At has Marge and Gower Champion’s lush, ethereal dance to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and Yolanda and the Thief has the dazzling Coffee Time duet with Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer. Two Weeks with Love delivers solid entertainment. Its brisk pace, comic moments, and lighthearted mood compensate for the trite narrative and when Aba Daba Honeymoon comes on, all the elements come together to make a genuine musical movie classic.
- Dennis Seuling